Barn Owl hunting 1

Brown Stabilo Fine point 0.4 pen sketch on a coffee-painted back-ground – DalerRowney 300gsm - 8" x 12" unframed

A lovely companion painting to Barn Owl hunting 2

The Barn Owl (Tyta alba) is a frequent visitor to my property (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa) and is not shy to hunt in broad daylight. I often see one pouncing on something in the long grass during the day, flying off with its prize, probably to feed some babies.

Barn Owls love to use man-made structures to build their nests and are very partial to nest boxes one supplies. I’ve always had a box or two in my garden but, sadly to say, the weather has taken it’s toll on them and seeing as I’m past the stage of climbing trees to put one up, it’ll have to wait until I find someone young and agile to do the job for me!

ITEM ID : BarnOwlHunting1

PRICE - R350.00 including postage in South Africa

Listen to the Guinea Fowl

 WN watercolour on DalerRowney 220gsm heavy-duty sketching paper 
12" x 8" - unframed

Be grateful for nature. Pay the thunder no mind – listen to the Guinea fowl. And don’t hate anybody.

The Helmeted Guinea Fowl is an African family of insect and seed-eating, ground-nesting birds resembling partridges, but with featherless heads and spangled grey plumage. They are the ultimate low-cost, chemical-free pest control and if your garden is already established and can withstand the scratching, you’ll have a healthy and pest-free garden. And be rewarded with some wonderful antics from these lovely birds.

It is interesting to note that they are monogamous, mating for life. Read more

ITEM ID : ListenToTheGuineafowl
PRICE - R350.00 including postagein South Africa

The Way of the Crow

W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm - unframed

Black Crow (Corvus capensis) 

“If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.”
-Rev. Henry Ward Beecher mid 1800’s

There is little wonder that crows are very often the subjects of legends, folk-tales, and storytelling traditions around the world, all of which is very deep-seated and arising from myth and folklore thousands of years old. Anyone that has ever spent time with a crow will know how absurd these myths are and that Crows are no more ‘evil’ or ‘dark’ as depicted in these legends than a canary in a cage.

Read more HERE.

ITEM ID : WayOftheCrow

PRICE - R350.00 including postage

Life Force

Watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm – 12″ × 8″ - unframed

In this painting I tried to depict the fires that rage over our country-side every winter here in South Africa, destroying as it goes, but also giving life, cleaning up the landscape and allowing some flowers, that are dependant on the seasonal fires, to bloom.

• Energy is the life force that is present in all good art. This is not something that is easily defined, but it is the opposite state of static flatness. It is this energy that makes a painting speak to you, and makes an artist’s work original and identifiable as the work of that artist. Energy is created out of the artist’s materials and tools, but the end is more than the means in the same sense that a musical composition is so much more than a collection of notes.

Colour, shape, line and texture are the physical elements that combine to make up an image. Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be only slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum. Even art that aims for verisimilitude of the highest degree can be said to be abstract, at least theoretically, since perfect representation is likely to be exceedingly elusive. Artwork which takes liberties, altering for instance colour and form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstract. Total abstraction bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable.

ITEM ID : LifeForce

PRICE - R350.00 including postage

Burning Desire

Watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm sketch-book – 12″ × 8″ - not for sale due to being done in a sketch-book

“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.” 

W. Clement Stone – American best selling Author – 1902-2002 

Sometimes my work is inspired by a sight or sound, sometimes by a few words. In this instance, it is the many veld fires we have here in South Africa in winter and once I had finished the work, it evoked a feeling of a “burning desire” and the words followed. Or should I have named it “This little bird” …?